Vancouver farmers markets: Shop until you drop, alfresco

Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun05.08.2014

Penticton market features more than 260 vendors.

Yaletown Farmers Market started just last year as a seven-week trial market on Thursday afternoons. It became immediately obvious that the market had tapped into pent-up demand, drawing a phenomenal 4,000 people a day.

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British Columbians love their food local, and the province’s farmers markets have responded with astounding growth.

The number of farmers markets — while difficult to pinpoint with accuracy at any one moment in time — has easily doubled in the past 10 years, according to David Connell, food systems professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. A report prepared by Connell for the B.C. Association of Farmers Markets found that markets sales rose 147 per cent between 2006 and 2012.

Markets have evolved, too, from a few tents with fresh local vegetables into outdoor supermarkets with pasture-raised meat and eggs, organic dairy, artisanal coffee and an assortment of food vendors. Live music is a fixture at many markets, adding to the festive atmosphere.

A lot of markets are doing a lot of things well — people are clearly voting with their wallets — but a few are doing some things very well. Here are a few favourites.

Fastest growing

The Yaletown Farmers Market (eatlocal.org) started just last year as seven-week trial market on Thursday afternoons, hidden away on Mainland Street between Davie and Helmcken. It became immediately obvious that the market had tapped into pent-up demand, drawing a phenomenal 4,000 people a day.

Produce vendors who worried that the downtown crowd might be slow to warm up to the idea of cooking with fresh ingredients soon learned that condo dwellers would be their most enthusiastic customers.

At the end of the trial, Vancouver Farmers Markets opted to continue holding weekly markets through to December, and Yaletown continued to draw 2,500 shoppers.

“People were coming down from the West End, people were coming down from office buildings, running out on their lunch break,” said VFM operations manager Roberta LaQuaglia. “We weren’t really sure people in Yaletown wanted to cook, but they were really keen on the organic produce and having that country experience in the city.”

The Yaletown market is already open for the season.

Best Food

Moss Street Market in Victoria (mossstreetmarket.com) boasts more than 25 natural and organic farmers, as well as meat, cheese and yogurt vendors to help you stock your home kitchen, but the hot prepared foods and baking really draw crowds, said market manager Kyle Goulet.

“The lineups for our bakers are 40 people deep,” said Goulet. “They are making some great artisan breads here.”

Moss Street Market has a large selection of hot food vendors selling everything from bento box Japanese food, fresh local sausage on a roll, tamales, pasta, Persian food, samosas and curries.

“It quite a little food court we have here,” he said.

The market is situated on schoolyard near a playground with plenty of places to sit and lots of room for those inclined to hit the grass for a meal while the kids play.

“It’s a great place to sit and have a meal and listen to live music,” said Goulet.

UBC Farm Market (ubcfarm.ubc.ca) is one of the few multi-vendor markets that is located on a working farm. Market days are Wednesday (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.). The Saturday market includes a free, guided farm tour at 11 a.m. that is popular with families.

“When people come down to the market they can actually see where the food is grown,” said project manager Shannon Lambie. “On the tour you can learn almost everything we do here. Lot’s of people — especially families with little kids — come to the market, do the tour and then find a grassy spot for a picnic.”

The farm has a very eclectic selection of produce, including vegetables, eggs, flowers and even hops for craft brewing enthusiasts.

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Royal City Farmers Market (rcfm.ca) is situated in lush Tipperary Park, which features ponds, streams, a picnic area, face-painting, and a Kids Place with arts, crafts and activities for little tykes. Summer market day is Thursday (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.).

“Kids often go play on the stream and we have a kids area where we have volunteers doing crafts and colouring with the kids,” said operations manager Melissa Maltais. “We have musicians playing right in the middle of the market, so the kids like to dance there.”

“Young moms come with their little kids and shop and that adds to the energy level with so many young families coming together,” said Maltais.

Most beautiful location

In a province that boasts some pretty impressive scenery, it’s hard to beat the location enjoyed by the Squamish Farmers Market (squamishfarmersmarket.com). Surrounded by parks on three sides — including a new waterfront green space on Howe Sound — the market setting is dominated by the Stawamus Chief and its 700-metre granite cliffs.

“It’s an absolutely breathtaking backdrop,” said market manager Carolyn Morris. The market is nestled in low-rise downtown Squamish, a relatively rustic core almost free of franchise businesses. One of the earliest markets to open this spring — May 10 — Squamish is a favourite grocery stop for people heading to Whistler and day-tripping hikers from Metro Vancouver. “We’ve really grown — skyrocketed really — in the last coupe of years.”

The market’s 62 vendors include a mix of arts and crafts, fresh produce, artisanal foods and hot, prepared meals.

Best Coffee and Pastry

Vancouver’s West End Farmers Market (eatlocal.org) has a relaxed walk-up vibe that mirrors the surrounding community. Great purveyors of bread and sweet treats — both regular and gluten free — offer big selection to highly caffeinated market browsers.

Purebread, Gluten Shmuten, Kalley Kandy, French Made Baking, cookies by john and Blackberry Hill are all a strong draw for those with a sweet tooth, though they rotate through attending every second or third Saturday. Ditto for The Bean Buggy, Trudy Ann’s Chai, and West Best Coffee.

Once you have your beverage and pastry of choice enjoy the ambience of Nelson Park and the historic Mole Hill neighbourhood.

Really, really big

The Penticton Farmers Market (pentictonfarmersmarket.org) and the Downtown Penticton Association Community Market (downtownpenticton.org) — though separately managed — combine on Saturdays to cover four city blocks with more than 260 vendors, in the beautiful and productive Okanagan Valley.

“To the public it looks like one giant market,” said market manager Erin Trainer. The Penticton Farmers Market maintains a higher than average ratio of fresh food vendors than most markets, about 80 per cent fresh to 20 per cent prepared foods and crafts. The community market has an abundance of crafts and hot food options.

Did I mention the fruit?

“In the Okanagan we are in a really privileged place compared to a lot of the rest of B.C., so much fruit is grown right near by and we are lucky to have a lot of small-scale farmers,” said Trainer. “We have pretty much every kind of fruit and vegetable.”

Where chefs shop

Vancouver’s Main Street Station Farmers Market (eatlocal.org) was conceived from the beginning to be a mid-week destination for the city’s chefs and vendors were specifically recruited to supply restaurants in quantity. The market also offered tours for local chefs so they could meet producers and sample ingredients.

“We want the chefs to be able to get in and get out quickly, so we made sure that we had parking and loading space, plus we let them come in an hour before the market opens to the public,” said Roberta LaQuaglia, operations manager for Vancouver Farmers Markets.

“Campagnolo’s owner Rob Belcham has been a big supporter,” said LaQuaglia. “But we see at least a dozen chefs as regulars.”

The location — right on several busy bus routes and steps from the SkyTrain — makes it an easy place for commuters to hop off transit, buy top-notch ingredients and race home to cook, all on a single transfer. Lots of ingredients are prepackaged for shoppers in a rush.

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Local chefs are enthusiastic customers at the Kamloops Farmers Market (kamloopsfarmersmarket.com), which offers a wide selection of proteins grown without hormones and antibiotics. Free-range chicken, duck, pork and lamb all line up alongside local beef. It is cattle country, after all.

Ranchers and farmers often raise their animals and grown produce according to the chefs’ specifications, according to market chairman Ed Basile. In business since 1978, the markets’ growers and their customers have had plenty of time to develop relationships.

“Variety and resilience drive the market and the chefs know it,” said Basile.

The Wednesday and Saturday markets are both already underway.

Find Vancouver Farmer’s Markets Here:

Trout Lake: Saturdays, May 10-Oct. 18

Kitsilano, 2690 Larch St., Sundays, May 11-Oct. 19

West End, 1100 block of Comox, Saturdays, May 31-Oct. 18

Main Street, 1100 block Station St., Wednesdays, June 4-Oct. 1

Kerrisdale, East Boulevard, Saturdays, June 14-Oct. 11

Mt. Pleasant, Guelph St., Sundays, June 15-Oct. 12

Yaletown: Thursdays, May 1-Oct 2

River District, Kerr St. & E. Kent Ave., Saturdays, May 3-Oct. 18

Steveston Farmers & Artisans Market, Sundays

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Vancouver farmers markets: Shop until you drop, alfresco

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